Camel, Lion, or Rhinoceros

The Funding Stalemate:  Concerns that there will be a government shutdown this weekend are rising, fueled in large part by the stalemate over fixing DACA and funding Trump’s promised wall.  In an attempt to allay concerns that Trump is being irrational about his demands, Chief of Staff Kelly visited Capitol Hill where he told some Democratic lawmakers, including members of the Hispanic caucus, that some of the things that Trump promised during the campaign were “uninformed” and the US will never build a wall along its entire Mexico border.  He also said that Trump “is committed to a permanent solution to DACA,” but did not provide clarity on what he really wants in exchange, possibly because Trump doesn’t know what he wants.  For his part during an interview with Reuters, Trump continued to rant about the bipartisan  proposal that Senators Lindsey Graham and Dickie Durbin provided last week, the one that provoked his ignominious expletives by calling it “horrible” and “very weak.”  With the resolution of DACA up in the air, Republican leadership is trying to move forward on a funding resolution that kicks any solution of the DACA problem down the road, heightening anxiety for the Dreamers and frustrating those Democrats who want to see DACA resolved once and for all.  House Speaker Paul Ryan is pushing a short term continuing resolution that would keep the government funded only until February 16.  To attract some Democrats his plan includes a six year extension of the Children’s Health Insurance program that has been left in the lurch and desperately needs money, but to attract fiscally conservative Republicans his plan also delays the implementation of several Obamacare taxes, including the so-called Cadillac tax on certain high end health care plans.  Even with the CHIP sweetener, he still isn’t sure that he has the votes needed to pass a funding resolution because the Mark Meadows led Freedom Caucus might not sign on.  Unlike Senate Majority Leader McConnell, Ryan only has to come up with a simple majority.  Senate rules require that Majority Leader McConnell come up with sixty votes and with John McCain still in Arizona and with a very frustrated Lindsey Graham saying that he won’t vote for a resolution that doesn’t deal with DACA, McConnell will need Democratic support from all of the red state Democrats to get anywhere near enough votes to get any funding resolution passed. It’s not clear that they will all join in.  On the Republican side, it’s not just Lindsey Graham who is causing him trouble.  Louisiana Senator Kennedy, no relation to the Massachusetts Kennedys, wants to know why he should sign on to a plan that further reduces taxes on insurance companies right after they benefitted bigly from the huge tax cut passed at the end of the year.  At this point, uncertainty is the word of the day.  

The Press War: Yesterday, Arizona Senator Jeff Flake spoke out against Trump’s attack on the press saying that “The free press is the despot’s enemy, which makes the free press the guardian of democracy” adding that when “When a figure in power reflexively calls any press that doesn’t suit him fake news, it is that person who should be the figure of suspicion, not the press.”  In a Washington Post op-ed Arizona’s other Senator John McCain pointed out that 2017 was one of the most dangerous years to be a journalist and that whether “Trump knows it or not,” his efforts to mock and criticize the press “are being closely watched by foreign leaders who are already using his words as cover as they silence and shutter one of the key pillars of democracy.” Ignoring or possibly because of the criticism, Trump went ahead and posted his fake news awards on the Republican National Committee website, citing the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, and ABC among others as purveyors of unfair news coverage and downright fake news.  Ronna Romney McDaniel, Mitt Romney’s niece, is the current head of the RNC, he must be so proud that a member of his family has become another willing enabler of Trump’s antics and virulent press attacks.  Nowhere on the web posting was there any mention of the more than 2000 lies that Trump has told since taking office.  Also not mentioned were Trump or his lawyer’s denials of the payments made to porn star and sometime Trump girlfriend Stormy Daniels.  Excerpts of an interview that she gave In Touch magazine about her relationship with Trump in 2011, well before she was paid to be quiet, were also released yesterday.      

Russia, Russia, Russia:  Though he intended to adhere to the rules conveyed to him by the White House about what he could and couldn’t answer during his testimony in front of the House Intelligence Committee, Bannon screwed up.  He inadvertently admitted that he'd had conversations with then chief of staff Priebus, then press secretary Spicer and then legal spokesman Mark Corallo about Don Junior's infamous meeting with the Russians in Trump Tower in June 2016.  After his oops moment he clammed up about what else he knew about that key issue, the one that is one of the focal points in the collusion and obstruction investigation, infuriating the members of the committee especially Republican Trey Gowdy, one of those guys who usually lets Trump get away with just about anything, and Democrat Adam Schiff, who lets Trump get away with nothing.  Curiously Bannon is represented by Bill Burck, the same lawyer representing White House Counsel Don McGahn.  During Bannon’s testimony Burck spent a considerable amount of time coordinating with the White House in order to determine what questions Bannon could answer.  It’s not clear whether it was McGahn or another one of Trump’s lawyers who was giving him that advice.  It’s also not clear if Burck will be the lawyer representing Bannon when he speaks with Special Counsel Mueller as he had initially only been retained for Bannon’s appearance in front of Congress.  In any case, Bannon has agreed to cooperate with Mueller so at least for now he will not be required to go in front of the Mueller’s grand jury, instead he will be asked to spill his guts during a more private interview.  Bannon wasn’t the only former campaign leader on the Congressional hot seat this week.  Yesterday, the House Intelligence Committee interviewed both former campaign manager and current Trump surrogate Corey Lewandowski and current deputy chief of staff Rick Dearborn.  Ranking Member Schiff reports that as expected, the frequently bombastic, Trump adoring Lewandowski refused to answer some questions but that Dearborn was forthcoming.  Reverting to their normal Trump fawning position, the Republican members of the Intelligence Committee were satisfied with Lewandowski’s performance, particularly strange in light of their furious response to Bannon’s Trump mandated evasive tactics earlier in the week.  

Other Government News:  Senate Judiciary Chairman Grassley is trying to squeeze in a vote for seventeen of the judicial candidates whose nominations were carried over from last year, including one who  defended North Carolina in its fight against allowing transgender people to use their preferred bathroom facilities by arguing that that there was no sound science proving that “gender discordance wasn’t a delusional state” and another who lied about his efforts helping former Senator Jesse Helms fulfill his lifetime goal of intimidating black voters.  Judicial appointments are for life so if these two knuckleheads make it to the court, and they probably will, we will be dealing with the consequences of their biases for a long time to come.   Two thirds of the National Park Service Advisory Panel, including members appointed by both Democratic and Republican administrations, resigned citing Interior Secretary Zinke’s refusal to acknowledge their existence, respond to their calls and failure to allow them to hold legislatively mandated meetings.  Their early departure leaves the government without a functioning body to designate national historic or natural landmarks, which is probably not much of a concern to Zinke since the Trump administration seems intent on shrinking parks and landmarks whenever possible.  Trump is now citing his score on the Montreal Cognitive Test administered by the White House doctor, particularly that he was able to distinguish between a camel, a lion and a rhinoceros and that he could correctly draw the requested time on a clock, two of the Montreal test’s tougher questions, as proof that he will be able to solve the North Korea crisis.  Sadly, the test did not check to see if Trump understood the ramifications of hitting any big red buttons.